Nearly 800 struggling homeowners have told ProPublica stories about their efforts to get a loan modification through the federal program. ProPublica can use only a fraction of those in its coverage, so it wants to introduce such homeowners to local journalists. If you're a homeowner trying to get a loan modification or a journalist, find out how to sign up.

Thousands of American homeowners are living with defective drywall. ProPublica, in partnership with the Sarasota Herald Tribune, needs your help to get to the bottom of this story. If you are a victim of defective drywall, can you take a moment to fill out our online form? With your help, we’ll be able to finally measure the scope and severity of this crisis.

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After the blowout of the Deepwater Horizon well triggered the largest oil spill in United States history, BP vowed to "Make it Right" for Gulf Coast residents affected by the spill. One of the central pieces of BP's program to make amends was to create a claims system -- as required under federal law -- to compensate individuals and businesses that lost money as a result of the spill.

ProPublica has examined the claims process closely to see whether BP and the government are delivering on their promises to the Gulf residents. Although nearly $3 billion has been paid out to date, there have also been chronic delays and a lack of transparency about payment decisions that have caused frustration and in many cases serious economic hardship to claimants.

Help us think through challenges faced by disabled borrowers with outstanding student loans. Borrowers with federal student loans are entitled to discharge these loans if they become “permanently and totally disabled.” Most private loans do not permit disabled borrowers to discharge their loans. You don’t need first-hand experience counseling disabled borrowers to help us. We’re looking for any insights you’ve had that may shed light on their experiences, and on other issues confronting disabled borrowers with student loans.

Your experiences and insights about dealing with student debt while living with a disability will help ProPublica reporter Sasha Chavkin to investigate the challenges confronting borrowers who become disabled. He is examining the difficulties that borrowers face in proving that they are unable to work and getting forgiveness for their student loans. Any insight or feedback you provide is much appreciated. Information you provide may be shared with other Public Insight Newsrooms exploring this subject at a later date.

As the damage claims process for the Gulf oil spill moves into its second phase -- from issuing emergency payments to considering final claims -- administrator Kenneth Feinberg yesterday unveiled a variety of improvements that he says will increase transparency and offer more options to claimants.

Feinberg said there had been "constructive criticism" about opaque decision-making and poor communications during the emergency payments process and promised to make several changes. (We reported on the lack of transparency on severaltimes, for example on claimants' struggles to get basic information about the status of their claims.)

Yesterday, we published a letter by the Justice Department expressing its concerns about an early draft of Gulf claims chief Kenneth Feinberg's protocol for evaluating final claims. Unlike the emergency payments that Feinberg's operation has offered so far, final claims cover both past and future damages caused by the spill, and claimants who receive them must sign a waiver giving up their right to sue.

Today, Feinberg released the protocol to the public, and you can read it on our document viewer.

The protocol shows that Feinberg has followed some of the Justice Department's advice. For example, the Justice Department called on Feinberg to decide all emergency payments by Dec. 15 and make interim payments -- which will be offered on a quarterly basis under the new system -- available more frequently for claimants who are in financial need. Feinberg has adopted both of these recommendations in his protocol.

Feinberg said in a press conference this morning that his protocol would offer the most favorable terms for compensation of any option available to claimants. "I am determined to be more generous than the courts would be," Feinberg said.

Tomorrow, Gulf claims czar Kenneth Feinberg will release his protocol for evaluating final claims -- the lump sum settlements that are meant to cover all losses from the spill but require claimants to waive their right to sue BP. He will begin reviewing applications for final claims after the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Department of Justice has reviewed an early draft of Feinberg's protocol, and on Nov. 19 Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli wrote to Feinberg expressing concerns about the proposed guidelines. He also urged Feinberg to improve his operation's transparency by offering a more detailed explanation of the principles that are used to decide claims. You can read Perrelli's letter, which we've posted in our document viewer.